New COVID cases found among courthouse workers; visitors asked to wear masks

Update: Visitors will be required to wear a face covering to enter the courthouse starting Monday, July 13.

Four employees at the Butler County Courthouse have tested positive for COVID-19 this week, bringing the total to six since the pandemic began. Masks are not required when entering the courthouse, but are encouraged.

“We had two in the assessor’s office a while back,” said Presiding Commissioner Vince Lampe.

Earlier this week, three employees received positive results, and “we got another one today,” Lampe said Friday morning.

Those affected, Lampe said, will not be identified because of HIPAA regulations.

Two of the most recent cases, he believes, can be traced to other family members and not the courthouse.

While officials are doing the best they can with the situation, Lampe said, everybody is worried.

He cited the county clerk’s office as an example, given the upcoming election just weeks away.

“It’s not just the courthouse, though. I think it’s everywhere,” Lampe said.

To date, Butler County has seen 124 positive COVID-19 cases, including two on Thursday and four on Friday. Of that total, 68 are reported as recovered, two have died and the rest are isolated at home.

Earlier this week, 629 people were tested for COVID-19 by the Missouri Army and Air National Guard during a mass event at the Libla Family Sports Complex, and Lampe expects an uptick in positive cases to result from those tests. Officials have said it could take seven to 10 days for the positive test results to be released to the Butler County Health Department.

The unknowns of the virus, Lampe said, make it difficult to deal with.

“It’s pretty stressful from this end of it,” he said. “It’s just a bad situation.

“I don’t think anybody knows how this works. You can talk to six different people and get six different ideas.”

Even so, Lampe said, officials are doing what they can to curb the virus’ spread.

“We’re just trying our best to keep things clean, wear masks and do whatever we can do,” he said.

Currently, there is no order to wear masks in the courthouse. Instead, they are only encouraged.

“I can’t force them to wear one, and actually, the health department is in charge of that,” Lampe said, citing a directive from the governor when the pandemic began.

However, Lampe said he will work to see what can be done.

“I’m going to talk to Judge Pritchett and see if there’s anything that he can give me, like some kind of order to tell people to wear masks while in the courthouse,” he said.

Meanwhile, precautions remain in place at the courthouse, including sanitizing by staff, social distancing and encouragement of mask usage.

Visitors must enter through the east door and go through a security checkpoint and COVID screening before being allowed into the building.

“The sheriff’s department is providing that,” Lampe said of the security.

“This is not going to go away tomorrow, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Lampe said. “It is what it is, and we just have to carry on and do the best we can.”